Sorbus parvifructa McAll.

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Credits

Article from New Trees by John Grimshaw & Ross Bayton

Recommended citation
'Sorbus parvifructa' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/sorbus/sorbus-parvifructa/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Genus

Glossary

Tibet
Traditional English name for the formerly independent state known to its people as Bod now the Tibet (Xizang) Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China. The name Xizang is used in lists of Chinese provinces.
section
(sect.) Subdivision of a genus.

References

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Credits

Article from New Trees by John Grimshaw & Ross Bayton

Recommended citation
'Sorbus parvifructa' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/sorbus/sorbus-parvifructa/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Tree to 15 m. Branchlets slender. Buds ~1 cm, ovoid to conical, reddish brown with white hairs on the margins and apices of the scales. Leaves to 18 cm long, with 8–11(–14) pairs of leaflets. Leaflets to 4 × 0.9 cm, very papillose beneath. Fruit hard, to 0.7 × 0.5 cm, soft pink; sepals very fleshy, carpels five with white-hairy apices. Sexual diploid (2n = 34). McAllister 2005a. Distribution CHINA: Xizang (Bomi Co.). Habitat Wet, mixed deciduous-coniferous woodland. USDA Hardiness Zone 7. Conservation status Not evaluated.

Sorbus parvifructa is a sexual diploid member of section Discolores and as such can be expected to vary slightly, and to form hybrids when grown in proximity to other species. It was first spotted as fallen fruits by Hugh McAllister, on an expedition with Keith Rushforth on the Showa La of southeastern Tibet in 1997, and immediately recognised as a distinct species. Seed was introduced under the numbers KR 5731–5735. The high number of leaflets and very small pink, slightly elongated fruits are its points of distinction within the section. As yet it has not been widely grown, but it should make an interesting specimen. It is certainly very vigorous; a young plant donated by Hugh McAllister has gained 50 cm in its first growing season at Colesbourne Park, Gloucestershire.